Chris Love '06

The music department of Ferrum College took its annual tour on the weekend of April 10-13 after a semester in practice. The concert choir, collegiate choir, and hand bell ensemble set out on a rainy Thursday afternoon for Chesapeake and the beach with concert stops along the way. I, being a member of the concert choir, was one of about forty students on the tour. The concert choir, collegiate choir, and hand bell ensemble performed a series of eight shows in five days.

Our first stop was Franklin County High School just a few miles up the road. Some members of the choir graduated from this school and were a bit nervous about going back to perform for the music department there. While we were in concert, a terrible storm blew in and knocked the power out during the middle of the hand bell ensemble's performance. An alarm went off in the distance, but the show went on. Afterward, the high school choir performed for us.

Leaving the school, we ran back to the bus in the pouring rain and started out for Lynchburg and a performance that night at the historic Quaker Memorial Presbyterian Church. Arriving late in the afternoon we set up and warmed up a bit before eating a dinner which the church prepared for us. The 7 o'clock concert opened with the concert choir performing sacred music by Vivaldi, Mozart, Gershwin and selected songs from the Broadway musical Westside Story. The hand bell performance and the collegiate choir followed.

That night (and the following one also), the members of the choirs stayed in the homes of people with whom we had previous arrangements. The nights were enjoyable. Often our hosts played board games with us or engaged us in some other activity. One member of the choir helped his host put up beanpoles in the backyard garden. Early Friday morning we got up, ate breakfast, and headed down Route 460 for Chesapeake. The bus ride was long but not too bad. One of the students on the bus had brought along his taxes and could be seen working on them (just prior to the April 15 deadline). Some brought textbooks, but no one read them. Many on the bus seemed to enjoy the scenery and in general the trip out from the usual routine of study and class.

Arriving at Chesapeake, the choirs and hand bell ensemble did a short concert at a retirement home downtown. The residents there seemed to enjoy hearing the old piano, the young voices, and especially the "barber shop quintet" (part of the collegiate choir) as they sang songs from the good ole days. That evening, just a few miles down the road, we put on our tuxedos and formal dresses and performed a full concert at the Great Bridge United Methodist Church. The hand bell ensemble did put on a lovely show with their renditions of the hymns All Glory, Laud, and Honor and Happy Land as well as the songs Edelweiss, Jubilant Fanfare, the Irish Gigue, and a breathtaking performance of Pachelbel Canon. Because the hand bell ensemble is lacking a couple of members this semester, the bell players were often responsible for several bells a piece; and, needless to say, their precision was impressive. The players did well; the performance was art.

The next morning we awoke and met back at the bus. After saying "goodbye" to our hosts, we got on the bus and took a vote as to whether or not we actually wanted to go to the beach. Because conditions were cold and some members of the choirs were developing throat aches, we decided in favor of spending the morning at Greenbrier Mall before heading west to our next concert stop at La Crosse United Methodist Church. By the afternoon, the sun had finally come out, and everyone seemed to enjoy resting on the ride through idyllic southeastern Virginia. La Crosse was a small town, the church building quaint but ornate. We had ample time there to set up, practice, and visit the neighborhood pets before eating a tremendous potluck dinner that the church had prepared for us. That night we put on the concert as usual. The collegiate choir performed their numbers Moving On, A Time for Us, Somewhere My Love, Precious Lord, Take My Hand, Down to the River, Join Hands, and Big Spender. La Crosse was a somewhat special performance in that a former Ferrum College professor and coach was in attendance that night and in fact introduced us to the crowd. Afterward we loaded back onto the bus and headed back toward Ferrum (being that we had no scheduled concert for the following Sunday morning). Arriving at Ferrum at one in the morning, everyone was exhausted and headed to bed. The next morning was Palm Sunday; some of us went to church; others did work. We met back at the bus at 2:45 that afternoon and headed for our next-to-last scheduled concert in the nearby town of Salem. After yet another potluck dinner, the three ensembles performed their shows once again. The Barbershop quintet pulled a lot of laughs at this performance as they pulled their antics on the audience.

In all, the concert choir, collegiate choir, and hand bell ensemble performed a total of eight shows in five days. Most of the churches we visited on tour were the home churches of various members of the performance groups. The final concert was held Monday night, the 14th, at Ferrum's own St. James United Methodist Church. The concert drew faculty and students alike, many of whom enjoyed the much of the show as had other audiences in previous days. The choir tour was an excellent experience for me, and I find that I actually miss performing the nightly concerts. Perhaps at exam time, I'll remember the sacred music I sang on tour, and I'll sing "Praise the Lord in songs of joy" [Beethoven] as a semester's work draws to a close.

Dr. Erma Rose directs Ferrum College's Music program with accompanist Susan Spataro.